Our Last Remaining Coalition Partner France Still Has To Vote

French President Francois Hollande reaffirmed to U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday his will to punish Syria for a suspected chemicals weapons attack but was under increasing pressure to put the intervention to parliament.

Obama and Hollande spoke by telephone before Obama’s statement that he would seek authorization from Congress before any strike.

“The president reaffirmed to him his determination to act to sanction the regime,” a source close to Hollande said. “Each country’s pace of action must above all be respected. It’s important for the Americans to have the green light from Congress.”

However, pressure was now mounting on Hollande to also seek formal approval from parliament, which is due to hold a non-voting debate on Syria on September 4.

Our Congress is not set to return until Sept 9.

 

Hollande: Bugging allegations threaten EU-US trade pact

The BBC reports …

French President Francois Hollande has said allegations that the US bugged European embassies could threaten a huge planned EU-US trade deal.

He said there could be no negotiations without guarantees that spying would stop “immediately”.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said he did not know the truth of the claims but sought to down play them.

Meanwhile, Russian and US security agencies are reportedly discussing how to deal with the man behind the leaks.

Big ears went over the line …

 

Pop: France is ‘totally bankrupt’, jobs minister admits as concerns grow over Hollande’s tax-and-spend policies

The communist lights the way forward … but Obama is so much smarter than the others. LOL!!!

• Minister Michel Sapin said: ‘There is a state but it’s a totally bankrupt state’
• Unemployment and living costs have spiralled since party came to power
• President trying to revive economy through cutting spending by £51billion
• Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said Mr Sapin’s comments were ‘inappropriate’ and tried to blame Nicolas Sarkozy’s government
• An online poll in Le Figaro newspaper showed that 80.5 per cent of readers agreed that France is bankrupt

Mail online writes:

France’s Socialist government was involved in a vast damage limitation exercise today after a senior minister admitted that the country was ‘totally bankrupt.’

Colleagues of Michel Sapin, secretary of state for employment, insisted that he was merely highlighting the faults of the last conservative administration, after the minister said the government’s tax-and-spend policies are just not working.

Finance minister Pierre Moscovici said: ‘What he meant was that the fiscal situation was worrying’, and added that the last government, led by Nicolas Sarkozy, had accumulated £513billion of debt.

May I suggest, communism doesn’t work, don’t you know it’s failed all over the world. So how exactly how is your communism better than Fidel Castro’s communism?

Flailing French Government Is ‘Wagging The Dog’ In Mali

When governments get in too deep, they distract.

Normally, the media would have given it priority: French President François Hollande and Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault have become more unpopular than ever before.

But the poll was shoved into the background by France’s bombing campaign in Mali—which released an avalanche of positive comments and support from all sides, at least in France.

With impeccable timing.

French Pledge More Troops for Mali as Airstrikes Continue

In a poll conducted on Friday and Saturday just before the Mali intervention, only 39% of the respondents had a positive opinion of Hollande, a new low, a plunge of 19 percentage points in seven months. A brief uptick in November had been a mirage.

By contrast, Nicolas Sarkozy, during the same period in his term (January 2008), was still riding high with an approval rating of 54%.

And poor Ayrault. He never even had an uptick. His ratings have gone straight to hell. Only the speed has varied from poll to poll.

After seven months of watching his handiwork, only 35% of the French still have a positive opinion of him—down 21 percentage points since he took office. His predecessor, François Fillon, had never sunk this low.

“This raises the question of Jean-Marc Ayrault’s legitimacy,” explained the Institute LH2, which had conducted the poll. Even on the left, the “presidential and governmental action is not convincing….” He would soon have to be sacked.

Isn’t it Always: HOLLANDE: WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT

French President-elect Francois Hollande is suggesting that outgoing leader Nicolas Sarkozy’s government underestimated the country’s budget problems.

The Socialist Hollande spoke after the European Union lowered its growth forecasts for France and the whole of the 17-country eurozone.

Hollande told reporters Friday, “I have known for several weeks that there was a greater degradation than the outgoing government said there was. We conclude that this is a confirmation.”

Hollande, elected Sunday, says he wants an independent audit of the country’s books.

He said the new figures do not necessarily mean he has less room to maneuver to fulfill his campaign pledges after he takes office Tuesday. “No, we had already expected this,” he said in remarks shown on French television.

And so we have to spend some more, and some more …